Week 1

Two Games:

Silent Hill Games - 1999 to 2011

The Silent Hill are a series of video games composed of a mixture of adventure, psychological thriller, and survival horror. It is one of the most well known game in the horror industry that follows the main character in an monster-filled alternative dimension. Every game of the series of Silent Hill connects to one another and follows the original story line of the first game. The objective of the game is to guide the protagonist through a third person perspective within the particular dimension. The camera may switch to different angles for a more dramatic effect such as using firearms during the gameplay. Since the protagonist is an ordinary man that the player can easily identify with, the use of firearms seems sometimes unsteady to express the character's inexperience with weapons. Also, the visibility during the game is often reduced because of fog and darkness therefore the player only has a pocket-size flashlight to illuminate.

The player must navigate through the town called Silent Hill and solve challenging puzzles. Its goal is to discover what happened originally and understanding how the protagonist entered the altered dimension and so forth, while combating creatures. It is not a simple game since it requires critical thinking and patience as well as courage.

Some of the creatures and puzzles presented in the games were based on books such as Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland. Each character has its own characteristics but the protagonist is almost completely left neutral, avoiding forced interpretations of the game on the players. Following this, the soundtrack plays a very important role during the gameplay of Silent Hill. It supports the cold and rusty feel of the games but seems to work independently from its visuals.


Mahjong - 1989 (electronic version)

The second game is completely different from the first one. Rather, Mahjong is an analogue game created to stimulate the brain requiring skill, strategy, and calculations. There are two versions, the four player table originating from China and the single player solitaire Mahjong. The one I will be referring to it the Western single player computer game version.

It is a matching game that uses the original Mahjong card designs but rather as a set of tiles. There are 144 tiles arranged face up in a special four layer pattern. Each tile has a different design which include: suited tiles (circle suit, bamboo suit, character suit), honor tiles, flower tiles, and lastly eight joker tiles. Mahjong's goal is to match identical pairs of tiles, leaving room for the ones under to show. The game is completely when all the pairs of tiles have been removed and the board is empty. This is just a plain simple game with just one camera perspective and no audio which makes it easier to concentrate.

The electronic version of Mahjong is a great way of avoiding the temptation to cheat since the tiles under each other cannot be seen unless paired. Players should evidently open up new tiles with each pair they eliminate. Choosing obvious pairs from the top level will often end the game prematurely leaving the tiles at the bottom covered.



Review:

Video Games and Computer Holding Power
Sherry Turkle, 1984

This article discusses how Sherry Turkle uses video games to discuss the computer culture as a culture of rules and stimulation. In the introduction she explains that video games not only stimulate our imagination, but they also influence our outlook of the world and perspective of ourselves. As she goes on she says, "to them it is not a new technology but a fact of life" which is quite a scary but also exciting thing to say about children since they are the future. It may later on help build a career for many of them or increase violent behavior at home. With video games present, it is a new way of life.

The Myth of "Mindless" Addiction

In this section Turkle analyzes the difference between playing video games and watching television. They are both very different since video games have one important aspect that TV will never have; interaction. She goes on subtly comparing ideologies of adults vs. children, arguing that video games are not mindless and require logic. It is difficult to disagree with what she says since she does an excellent job of revealing the skills that a gamer must acquire to be successful. These skills can be learned, practiced, and developed over time. However, they are just not as visible to the outside observer.

Computation Specificity

The video game world has no bound or limitations to what can be done, it is only limited to the programmer's imagination. To better understand her points, she makes a clear comparison to a pin ball machine and its mechanics versus the more digital mechanism of a video game. Her most important comparison would be when Turkle states: "it is a space where the physical machine and the physical player do not exist". It is entirely up to the game designer to decide what shall be created in the altered world.

Jarish and the Computer Within the Game

Furthermore, Jarish is an example of a young boy who associated himself with video games as a means of feeling good about himself and his talent. Video games are now capable of keeping ones score using his or her initials as well as showing ones level of skill. Players remain nameless, faceless, and more importantly undiscriminated. Physical attributes normally play a major role in competitive activities but that is not the case in video games. Though Jarish recognizes that they're are rules in video games just like in the real world, why does he feel more in control in his games rather than the real world? Because as Turkle explained previously, he is able to change things within the games by simply pressing keys and programming.

To Joust and Beyond

Turkle continues to emphasis that the "spectator's body is out of the picture" and video games solely rely on imagination and identification. When an individual is part of other microworlds such as watching something on television or going on a Disney ride, he or she is entirely on the 'outside' with no use of imagination. The challenge of a game designer is to have the appeal of "Disneyland, pinball, and a Tolkien novel all at one". Turkle explains that games like Joust do not offer the imaginative aspect with a character and a situation that literature can. Though I cannot agree nor disgree with what Turkle says since I have not played the game, I can understand what she means since the first video games were very limited.

Towards the end of this section, Turkle poses a few questions of what the future of video games may be. Since this article was written in 1984, a lot has evolved since and the worlds within video games have become more complex. Players are not capable of moving along with the character within those worlds thanks to consoles such as Wii and Xbox Kinect. She suggests erasing the line between playing a game and making a movie but that is not possible since one is for pure entertainment to watch while the other is purely interactive.

Games, Gnomes, and Computer Culture

Moreover, Turkle continues to use Jarish the exemplify the use of fantastical vision and stimulation in video games and the rules that the world must conform to. The rules for violence, murder, and theft depend on what can happen and how one handles them. Jarish has become a master at manipulating those rules. It is interesting to see that the constraints of video games are imposed by "rule systems and not by physical reality of moral considerations". Then again, Turkle was right when she said there are rules in video games just like in the real world.

Just like a writer, you can invent the world within your books but must acknowledge the peculiarities of the life forms for example. Once the rules are defined, they must be followed as well as passed on.

Losing oneself in a Simulated World

In addition, computers offer the possibilities of creating and working within an artificial world, and sometimes some prefer it to the real world. It is not surprising that Turkle previously mentioned video games to affect real life relationships because they construct lives in two worlds apart. They allow identification with characters from war stories to sports games but leave little room for playing their real roles. In this section, Turkle seems to suggest that there is something missing in these games; open-ended role playing that children offer like being 'mommy' and 'daddy'. There are no rules in role playing, there is understanding, recognition, negotiation, and confrontation that is essential to a child's learning. It is true that children would need both in this case and not just video games. Both help develop a style.

Altered States

Also, video games require the player to have total concentration and a charged state of mind. Playing video games develops this altered state that gives a feeling of being high like standing on the edge of a cliff, this desire of wondering what will happen next. This is very true because having this feeling results in no time for rest and continuously playing can also be quite calming since you are in another world. Ironic no? This is an interesting quote for those in disbelief; "Executives, accountants, and surgeons stand behind the junior-high-schoolers in games arcades. For people under pressure total concentration is a form of relaxation".

Metaphysical Machines & Perfect Mirrors

Likewise, Turkle discusses two promises that video games as a computational object hold; a touch of infinity and of perfection. The player will feel like they are in an endless world especially when he or she is given more than one life for the character. As for perfection, no doubt to say but the artificial world is perfect even if it is a war zone, nothing within the game will be out of place, rather, it is all created for a reason. I am not so sure the game will deliver perfection to the player who has personal issues with his or her body of psychological state. I think it is psychological ideological that the child believes the game is better than reality. The child cannot be able to always escape in the video games and avoid dealing with the real world in contrast to her example of Jimmy. When Turkle says; "when they use these powerful materials to measure themselves, they are at risk" of being addicted and so forth, but isn't everyone at risk then?

Perfect Contests

Lastly, games are a source of developing a feeling of control over challenge. Where the circumstances are going to be the same every time, where is it only you and this sense of urgency from real danger.

Overall, Turkle successfully points out the effects - mainly positive- of video games on children by comparing it with older machine games (pin ball), television, and using Jarish as a key character to back up her ideas. She elaborates on the levels of implication each stimulation structure brings. This is the holding power introduced in Turkle's article title. All games form holding power, each offering a unique game play .